ob,
and what she felt was a blank of fright and foreboding. Oh what should she
do? cried the selfish little thing--what should she do in the long, long,
weary days with Andrew gone? But then in a moment she remembered that this
was the first step toward going master of that craft in which her bridal
voyage was to be taken. "And what a long step it is, Andrew!" she cried.
"Was the like of it ever known before? What a long, long step it would be
but for that bitter apprenticeship when you and the captain brought the
wreck home!"

"Ay," said Andrew, proudly: "I served my time before the mast then, if
ever any did."

"And I suppose with the next step you will be master of the Sabrina? Oh, I
should so like it!"

"I don't know," said Andrew, more doubtfully than he had used to speak.
"I'm afraid the owners will think this is enough. This is a great lift.
I'll do my best to satisfy them, though; for I'd rather sail master of the
Sabrina than of the biggest man-of-war afloat."

"We used to play round her when we were children," said Louie,
encouragingly. "Don't you remember leading me down once to admire the lady
on her stern?--like a water-witch just gilded in the rays of some sunrise
she had come up to see, you said."

"Yes; and we used to climb her shrouds, we boys, and get through the
lubber-hole, before we could spell her name out. She's made of heart of
oak: she'll float still when the Frarnie is nothing but sawdust. We used
to watch for her in the newspapers--we used to know just as much about her
goings and comings as the owner did. Somehow--I don't know why--I've
always felt as if my fate and fortune hung upon her. It used to be the top
of my ambition to go master of her. It is now. I couldn't make up my mind
to leave her when the others did that cruel morning after the wreck; and
when the captain said he should stay by her, my heart sprang up as if she
had been a living thing, and I stayed too. And I'd rather sail her than a
European steamer to-day--that I would, by George!"

"Oh, of course you will," said the sympathizing voice beside him.

"I don't know," said Andrew again, more slowly and reflectively. "I've the
idea--and I can't say how I got it--that there's some condition or other
attached to my promotion--that there's something Mr. Maurice means that I
shall do, and if I don't do it I don't get my lift. It can't be anything
about wages: I don't know what it is!"

"Perhaps," said Louie, innocently, and